Kravitz: A fine finale for Purdue's Hummel

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WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. He was one of the great winners in Purdue basketball history. And yet, it's the way Rob Hummel won here, the adversity he overcame, the grace he showed through two season-killing knee injuries, that speaks most eloquently to the massive role the Valparaiso native played for this program.

"I remember when he got hurt the second time (in 2010),'' his mother, Linda Hummel, said before Purdue's 80-56 over Penn State on senior night. "We were coming down for the football game and we'd gotten the call. We (Linda and her husband, Glenn) were in the car, working through our own emotions, then we saw Dr. (Donald) Shelbourne, and he told us, 'Yes, it's the ACL again.'

"Then we went over to where they were practicing. That day it was an open practice, so there were parents of recruits and a lot of media, and we walked past them and there's Robbie on the floor with ice on his knee. I went down on one knee, just hugged him and said, 'We love you. It's going to be OK. We're going to work through this again.'

"It was hard for him, but I never saw him feel sorry for himself. He had some low moments, but he worked through them, talked to his dad and his friends. These past five years, he's shown us the strength he had inside of him because of all the adversity he's faced.

"Most people would just go, 'Oh, my God, two times, I'm done.' But Rob's had such a passion for this game since he was old enough to bounce a ball. Such drive and competitiveness. That's the thing we're proudest of.''

She spoke as a mother, but she could have been speaking for almost anyone. Is there a more highly regarded college player than Rob Hummel? Even IU fans like him.

After two season-ending knee surgeries, he endured, and here he is again, playing some of the best basketball of his storied career.

On a Wednesday night when Purdue honored seniors Hummel, Lewis Jackson and Ryne Smith, the three old heads left Mackey with some memories. Hummel had 26 points, eight rebounds and six assists. Jackson had 12 points, all of them in the second half, and five assists. Smith hit three 3-pointers in the second half.

"You want to be special your last night,'' Jackson said.

Don't look now, but Purdue is suddenly playing better than it has all season. Was Smith onto something, suggesting that Kelsey Barlow's expulsion was "addition by subtraction"? The Boilers have won five of six games, including that bravura performance at Michigan. That's in stark contrast to last season, when a terrific Purdue team lost its edge late in the season and fell to pieces in the postseason.

"I feel like we're on a big-time roll,'' Hummel said.

This sets up one of the most compelling IU-Purdue games in recent history Sunday, when the Boilers visit a Hoosiers team coming off a wipeout of Michigan State. With a minute left in the game, the "Beat IU!'' chants hit a crescendo.

If there's a regret about Hummel's career, it will be the what-if attending his season-ending injury last year. That team had a chance to win it all. Hummel knew it. We all knew it. He began with JaJuan Johnson and E'Twaun Moore, and if life was fair, he would have finished with them.

"I think that's something he'll always carry with him, unfortunately,'' Linda Hummel said. "That was the team. I had no doubt that was a Final Four team, or even one that could win it all.''

When Wednesday's game was over, there were tears. Understand, these are young 20-something males. The language of the locker room consists of portioning out grief to one another. But you could feel the emotion the three shared, Smith and Jackson having become what Hummel called "my adopted senior class.''

"We all love each other,'' Jackson said with a smile. "We don't normally say nice things to each other.''

With this group, and Hummel in particular, you can't say enough nice things.

"He's the whole package,'' coach Matt Painter said. ". . . There are some kids who come in here and they get it. They see the big picture. He wants to win. He was just wired that way."

On his Twitter page, Hummel describes himself as a "super senior at Purdue University trying to earn my 14th degree in May.''

He was, and is, a different kind of young man. One of the greatest winners in school history. And that tells just a small part of the story.

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Kravitz: A fine finale for Purdue's Hummel

It's the way Rob Hummel won here through two season-killing knee injuries that speaks to the role he played for the Boilermakers.